1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a gear mechanism, an opening/closing mechanism, and an opening/closing member.
2. Description of Related Art
An image forming apparatus has a damper mechanism in order to prevent the occurrence of a fault that a cover provided thereon closes too quickly (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 07-244410).
If the damper mechanism is provided, it is necessary to prevent the cover from being not closed completely by receiving a reaction force of the damper. According to a conventionally proposed concept, a fractional gear is engaged with a gear which receives a force of the damper and when the cover is closed, the fractional gear is released from the engagement, so that the reaction force of the damper is not received.
However, according to this structure, when the fractional gear is about to be released from the engagement, the engagement between the fractional gear and the gear having the damper is maintained by engagement of only a tooth of the fractional gear. In a condition of the engagement with this single tooth, the reaction force of the damper applied to the tooth of the fractional gear becomes large and a large shock sound occurs when the engagement of the fractional gear is released. For this countermeasure, it is necessary to use a large fractional gear so as to reduce a reaction force of the damper applied to the tooth, thereby softening the shock sound.